That one can of soda you drink a day can pile on 15 pounds in one year. And some health experts now blame this very kind of sugary consumption over the past 40 years for America's expanding waistlines.

Sodas "clearly have no vitamins, no minerals, no phytochemicals, so they're basically empty calories," says Frank Hu, nutrition researcher at the Harvard School of Public Health. 

"By reducing them, you are not losing anything but the calories." 

With grants from the federal government and the American Heart Association, Hu and his team spotted America's beverage patterns by reviewing findings from 30 nutritional studies dating back to 1966. Several of them show that drinking more sugar-sweetened drinks results in greater weight gain and a greater risk of obesity over time, Hu says.

According to other research, adults and children who are overweight or suffer from obesity are more likely to drink sugary sodas. And another study showed that limiting the amount of soft drinks that school-age kids drink also meant a reduction in excess weight and obesity, Hu adds.

Hu and his team wrote that while not all beverages are harmful, they suggest that sugary drinks "should be discouraged."

"Consumption of sugar-sweetened beverages, particularly carbonated soft drinks, may be a key contributor to the epidemic of overweight and obesity by virtue of these beverages' high added sugar content, low satiety and incomplete compensation for total energy," the researchers wrote, in the study. 

"Satiety" refers to the ability of a food or beverage to make you feel full.

10 teaspoons of sugar

Hu noted that Americans get about a third of their carbohydrate calories from added sweeteners - and beverages account for about half of this amount.

Because of its high-fructose corn syrup, a single 12-ounce can of soda provides the equivalent of 10 teaspoons of table sugar, Hu wrote, in August's American Journal of Clinical Nutrition.

He noted that some studies say pure fructose impede's the body's ability to produce insulin, which you need to process calories as well as substances that help control your appetite.

In 2004, Hu and other Harvard nutritionists warned that women's risk of getting diabetes increased by 80 percent if they drink more than one sugared soft drink per day versus one per month.

'Small association'

Most dietary guidelines urge people to limit beverages to those without sugar. The World Health Organization also says added sugars should make up no more than 10 percent of your total calories.

But the recent Harvard study didn't put to rest the simmering debate over whether sugar-laden soft drinks are as much to blame for the country's obesity problem as some health experts would like to think.

"Whatever small association may exist is not large enough to have a major impact on the obesity problem," says Richard Forshee, research director for the University of Maryland's Center for Food, Nutrition and Agriculture Policy. "No one denies that soft drinks contain calories, and because they contain calories they have to be consumed in moderation as part of a balanced diet."

Leaders with the American Beverage Association, which represents the country's soft-drink makers, note that not all of the studies fault sodas for the obesity problem. Richard Adamson, the association's senior science consultant, accuses the Harvard nutritionists of ignoring those research findings.

Calories from any source

Additionally, Adamson says association members offer bottled water, 100-percent fruit juices, sports drinks, low-calorie soft drinks, and products that control portions for customers who are managing their weight.

He noted another Harvard study that showed children who drank higher amounts of milk gained the most weight. 

"Clearly, calories ingested from any source, such as milk, sugar-sweetened beverages or other foods, can lead to weight gain when not properly balanced with increased physical activity," Adamson says, in a statement on the association's website. "Overweight and obesity are complex issues that have no single cause, but rather are dependent upon many factors, including genetics, lifestyle, eating habits and exercise."

For more information

•  American Beverage Association

•  School Beverage Guidelines

•  Weight-Control Information Network

Editor's Note: This article includes information from USA Today.

Source: Harvard School of Public Health, American Beverage Association
Reference: American Journal of Clinical Nutrition

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